A Bengaluru student’s attempt to sell her books online ended in a costly lesson as she lost Rs 90,000 to a QR code scam. The incident highlights the growing menace of digital payment frauds, especially those involving QR codes, in India’s tech capital.
The victim, an 18-year-old girl from Sidedahalli, north Bengaluru, posted an advertisement on the OLX platform to sell her “One Piece: East Blue” comic volumes, hoping to make some pocket money. Within two days, she was contacted by a man identifying himself as Ashok Agarwal, who claimed interest in buying her books. He spoke to her in Hindi, readily agreed to her quoted price of Rs 1,500 for two books, and assured her that payment would be made before collection. The buyer said he would send his employee to pick up the books from her house, further building her trust.
When the student suggested payment through a digital payment application, the fraudster insisted on a bank transaction and sent her a QR code, claiming it was for account verification. The code was for Re 1, and when she scanned it, a message initially said “transaction failed”, but the amount was credited to her account. This convinced her that the process was legitimate. The scammer then sent another QR code for Rs 1,500, which she scanned as well. However, instead of receiving money, funds started getting debited from her account and even from her mother’s account, totalling Rs 90,000. The fraud was discovered when her father intervened, and the police were able to freeze the scammer’s account soon after.
Rise in QR Code Related Scams
This is not an isolated case. Bengaluru has seen a sharp rise in QR code-related scams, with city police reporting over 50,000 cybercrime cases between 2017 and May 2023, of which 41% involved QR codes, malicious links, or card frauds. The modus operandi is often the same: fraudsters pose as buyers or sellers on online marketplaces, gain the victim’s trust, and then send a QR code under the pretext of transferring money. When the victim scans the code, instead of receiving money, they unknowingly authorise a payment from their own account to the scammer.
Experts warn that the visual similarity of QR codes makes it difficult for ordinary users to distinguish between genuine and fraudulent ones. Attackers exploit this by replacing or sending their own malicious codes, which can also redirect users to phishing websites or install malware on their devices. Such scams have become more frequent, with financial losses ranging from a few thousand to over a lakh rupees in some cases.
Authorities and cyber experts advise the public to exercise caution while dealing with unknown buyers or sellers online. They recommend never scanning QR codes sent by strangers, especially when selling goods, and to use only trusted digital payment methods. It is also important to verify the identity of the other party and to remember that QR codes are generally used to make payments, not to receive them.
